Tag Archives: Philosophy

Science asks objective questions and then attempts to answer them. Philosophy simply makes subjective statements and couldn’t care less whether they’re true, or even applicable to the real world in any way at all. An individual who focuses on science learns much about the world and his fellow man.

Science is a strong competitor against philosophy, nevertheless philosophy of science raises various questions about science. These, for example, are should politics influence science? How should we spend limited research funds? Is it ethical to benefit from clearly unethical research sources? These objections to science are based on both the ethical aspect of philosophy as well as science. Philosophy does also talk a lot about the self and what we are. Philosophy’s main questions are who am i? where am i? what am i? how am i? etc.

It is easy for some to dismiss the discipline of philosophy as obsolete. Stephen Hawking, boldly, argues that philosophy is dead.

Not according to Rebecca Newberger Goldstein. Goldstein, a philosopher and novelist, studied philosophy at Barnard and then earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at Princeton University. She has written several books, won a MacArthur “Genius Award” in 1996, and taught at several universities, including Barnard, Columbia, Rutgers, and Brandeis.

Goldstein’s forthcoming book, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away, offers insight into the significant—and often invisible—progress that philosophy has made.

“Show me a man who has not failed and I will show you a man that has not tried.” Socrates

Are we driven by our environment, biology, and non conscious influences?

I think that many peoples decisions are driven by their environment, biology, and unconscious influences, but that everybody has the ability to use their “free will” to make choices that benefits not only themselves but also the rest of humanity.

There are of course things as universal laws that seems to bind us into a space -time continuum but that does not mean that we are bound by the duality of it, We can go into space as an example but mere animals (like rats) cannot due to their biological structure and limited brain capacity.

Everyone has several moments throughout the day where they have to make a choice, and no matter how mundane that choice may seem, it could result in life changing events (though usually it doesn’t.) Or to think of events where it took several people making choices to do certain things at certain times to make them occur, and if one seemingly minor thing was different would (or could) be the undoing of everything.

The only real way to avoid the truth of Nihilism is to be either deluded or ignorant, ignorant such as in believing in god or simply never questioning the reality of existence. And delusion as in by making a statement such as “life has no meaning, therefore I can create my own” or saying “Life is about living your dreams”

Life is about fundamentally nothing, therefore your dreams and meaning are not “validated” because of this, it’s just that all dreams and thoughts are equally unimportant therefore no belief has any positive value over the other.

I don’t tend to view Nihilism as an ” I am or I’m not” question, think Nihilism is more like a spectrum/scale, and everyone is Nihilistic to a certain extent however small, but few people are true Nihilists.

Nietzsche discusses Christianity, one of the major topics in his work, at length in the context of the problem of nihilism in his notebooks, in a chapter entitled “European Nihilism”. Here he states that the Christian moral doctrine provides people with intrinsic value, belief in God (which justifies the evil in the world) and a basis for objective knowledge. In this sense, in constructing a world where objective knowledge is possible, Christianity is an antidote against a primal form of nihilism, against the despair of meaninglessness.

Related: “Nihilism,” by Eugene Rose. Gives a perspective on the causes of nihilism since ~1700, in ~100 pages; “The Answer You’re Looking for Is inside You,” and “Light Is a Living Spirit.”

An angel is a supernatural being or spirit found in various religions and mythologies. In Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, angels are often depicted as benevolent celestial beings who act as intermediaries between God or Heaven and Earth, or as guardian spirits or a guiding influence
Books

Works of literature, or a main division of such a work
Books new reading

A codex (in modern usage) is the first information repository that modern people would recognize as a “book”: leaves of uniform size bound in some manner along one edge, and typically held between two covers made of some more robust material.
Also things I would actually be reading…
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Christian

Although all of them have their historical roots in Christian theology and tradition, and although most would identify themselves as Christian, many would not identify others within the larger category as Christian
Death

Death is the termination of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Art is a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities, usually involving imaginative or technical skill. In their most general form these activities include the production of works of art, the criticism of art, the study of the history of art, and the aesthetic dissemination of art.
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Metaphysics

The metaphysician attempts to clarify the fundamental notions by which people understand the world, e.g., existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility. A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into the basic categories of being and how they relate to each other. Another central branch of metaphysics is cosmology, the study of the origin, fundamental structure, nature, and dynamics of the universe.

Mind

A mind is the set of cognitive faculties that enables consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, and memory, a characteristic of humans, but which also may apply to other life forms.
Names

Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal identifies, not necessarily uniquely, a specific individual human
Peace

peace also suggests sincere attempts at reconciliation, the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the establishment of equality, and a working political order that serves the true interests of all.

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of the general and fundamental nature of reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language

Tarot

Like the common deck of playing cards, the tarot has four suits (which vary by region, being the French suits in Northern Europe, the Latin suits in Southern Europe, and the German suits in Central Europe). Each of these suits has pip cards numbering from one (or Ace) to ten and four face cards (King, Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave) for a total of 14 cards. In addition, the tarot has a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit.
Thought

Although thought is a fundamental human activity familiar to everyone, there is no generally accepted agreement as to what thought is or how it is created. Somehow, thoughts arise in the mind from the product of subconscious brain processing.

Virtue
A virtue is a positive trait or quality deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting collective and individual greatness. The opposite of virtue is vice.

580/570-c.500 B.C.E. Pythagoras: A Pre-Socratic philosopher. Founder of a major school of philosophy/religion that emphasized the mystical interconnections in numbers, nature, and the human soul. The natural and the ethical world were inseparable.

515-c.450 B.C.E. Parmenides: On Nature, extant in fragments. Another of the Pre-Socratic. Extends Pythagoras by insisting that all that exists is unchanging and unified. Therefore, if something is changing, it is illusory. This paves the way for the two-world view important for much mysticism. Influences: Pythagoras.

428-348 B.C.E. Plato: Sophist, Republic, Parmenides, many others. Most important of ancient philosophers. His philosophical system provides the basis of most later mystical forms.Influences: Pythagoras, Parmenides.

384-322 B.C.EAristotle .: Metaphysics, De Anima, Nicomachean Ethics. While Aristotle himself is not really considered to be a mystic, he is an important influence on later mystics, especially when combined with Plato by Plotinus, and also when Christianized in the high Middle Ages.

20 B.C.E.-c.41 C.E.Philo : The Contemplative Life. An Alexandrian Jew who drew from Platonist tradition, Stoicism, and neo-Pythagoreanism to create a fusion of the active or virtuous life and the contemplative life.

232-304 C.E. Porphyry: Isagoge. Compiled Plotinus’ Enneads, and wrote a life of Plotinus. He was strongly anti-Christian, yet he became important in the history of Christian mysticism.

411-485 C.E. Proclusor Proclusthe Lycian : Neoplatonic philosopher was born. The Elements of Theology. Athenian Neo-platonist, who influenced Pseudo-Dionysius, and beyond him most of the mystical tradition.